Odd movement? Or Normal?

[janice]

My taricha torosa - what should I expect in the way of movement? He seems to have trouble swimming to the surface sometimes. Do they get better at this or should I be concerned? The water is not too deep...about 4". Also he does this thing, which I refer to as a hamster run, where his legs are all running but he is staying in one spot. Is this normal? How well should he be able to swim? He mostly roams around the bottom of the tank, swims up to the surface for a moment, and rarely he climbs onto the floating islands or the top of the water filter. He seems lively enough but I have seen the firebelly newts in the petstore swimming like tadpoles so I wondered.

 

[joan]

Janice, the adults don't swim a lot and prefer to prowl the bottom. They swim to the surface maybe once every few minutes to grab a gulp of air. I have an island in my tank, and yesterday was the first time I saw my T. grans. on it in over a month.

Are you sure you have a torosa? As far as I know, these are pretty hard to find in the pet trade, due to California collecting/selling laws.

 

[janice]

Yeah I'm pretty sure. It does look like all the pictures. This is Chinatown (Toronto) and there's a whole lot of stuff you turn a blind eye to. But he is dark brownish red with an orangey yellow underbelly and is about 6" long. We think he is male because he has that gland lump where his tail starts. He has, by the way, been perched on his water filter now on and off, just to prove me wrong about his surfacing ability, I suppose!